More Than an Echo
by LexusGrey
Summary: Echo starts to remember, and she's not too happy with Ms. DeWitt. At all. Warnings: Non-consensual spanking, spoilers up to the current episode, 'Echoes'.
1. Chapter 1

"She's glitching. She's glitching," Topher exclaimed, his tone laced with a bit of worry. He should have been more worried, but Echo was looking for Ms. DeWitt, not him.

"Thank you, I'm aware of that," Adelle said primly, squinting at the monitor screens.

"Aren't you gonna do something?" Topher asked.

Adelle looked at him with incredulity, and the only reason she didn't slap him was because Echo was getting violent downstairs and she had to do something. It was her fault this was happening, somehow it had to be her fault. She didn't know how, but she knew she'd take the heat if word got out to the higher-ups. "Bloody fucking hell," she cursed under her breath, leaving Topher's 'office' and stalking quickly down the stairs. "Echo, I'm here, I'm here," she announced exasperatedly. "Let him go. There's no need to draw him into this, he's as clueless as you were ten minutes ago."

Echo threw Victor aside and turned on Adelle, eyes blazing with a quiet fury. "My name is not Echo," she said through clenched teeth. "And you know that, don't you Ms. DeWitt? In fact you know everything that goes on here, don't you Ms. DeWitt? Ms. Fucking High and Mighty, Queen of All That Moves and Breathes, DeWitt?"

Adelle actually liked that description of herself, but the smile died on her lips when Echo lunged forward and grabbed her by the collar in a deceptively strong grip. "There's no need to get violent," she said, trying to sound in control. She knew Echo was physically stronger than her, and could snap her neck in a heartbeat if she so chose. She didn't think the active would do something like that, but then again, this wasn't really the active she was dealing with now. It was the girl between the lie and the truth. Remembering her past, struggling to make sense of it, but knowing she wasn't who they said she was. Knowing she was more than an echo.

"Shut up," Echo said with a bitter laugh. "Just because you don't hold us down doesn't mean what you do here isn't violent."

And they were moving, Adelle having to walk much more quickly than normal to keep up and prevent herself being choked by the grip on her collar. Now she'd have to have the blouse dry-cleaned. This entire situation was absurd. "Let me go, Echo, I don't know what you think you're going to do with me. Security will be here shortly and you'll be contained."

"Guess I'd better be quick, then," Echo snarked back, reaching their destination and forcing Adelle into a vacant bedroom, giving her a violent shove onto the bed against the wall farthest from the door.

"What are you going to do?" Adelle asked, hating more than anything that she had no idea what Echo was capable of. What was running through her head?

"For a start, I'm going to find out what it takes to make you scream," Echo said darkly, closing and locking the door. It must be a staff bedroom, if it had a lock. Just to be safe, she dragged a heavy oak dresser in front of the door... to give her a few extra minutes if nothing else.

"What are you doing with the bureau--" Adelle started to ask, but Echo's intent became clear before she finished the question, and she stopped, closing her mouth and just staring.

Echo spun to face her captor-turned-captive, adrenaline coursing through her veins. "I _remember _you," she said desperately. "I remember Rossum."

Adelle's eyes went wide. "I don't work at the laboratory," she said quickly. She knew what Echo had been doing the night her boyfriend was killed, and she didn't want the backlash that would come with it if the active thought she had taken part in animal experimentation.

"But you work _here_," Echo said in frustration. "I don't know what you did to me, but you fucked with my brain and I can only remember parts of myself! This _is _a laboratory!" she yelled, desperation giving way to anger once again. "What did you _do _to me? To them? To all of them?! Tell me right now or I will fucking kill you, I swear..."

Adelle's pulse picked up speed, and she had to make the better of two bad choices here. Say nothing and risk her life, or confess and risk her career. Either way would not end well, she was certain of that. But Echo deserved the truth, even if she would only know it for a few minutes before her mind was wiped again. And if she were honest with herself, she really didn't want to risk death right now. "We... I... wiped your memory. You had nothing left. I gave you a fresh start. A chance to help people."

Images flashed through Echo's mind at lightning speed, one after another after another, and she shook her head to clear it. "Rebecca. As Rebecca, how exactly was I helping people? You whored me out to the highest bidder!"

Adelle scooted backwards on the bed as Echo advanced. "What about Esther? You saved at least a dozen lives from a fanatical zealot!" she said, her tone gaining an edge she didn't like to hear in herself. She was not prepared for the swift punishment she received in the form of a powerful slap across her face, forcing her head to the side and the wind from her lungs. She gasped, bringing a hand to her throbbing cheek, the unwelcome sting of tears in her eyes as she looked back at Echo. "Echo, please," she said, her voice shaking. Where was security?

"My name is not Echo! What is it?!"

Another hard slap, and she could feel her face burning with shame. "Caroline," she whispered.

Another round of images flashed across Echo's mind when she heard that name. Her eyes widened and she grabbed Ms. DeWitt by the hair, staring into her teary eyes as she continued to berate her. "You're a murderer," she hissed. "And those animals... you knew what was going on and you did nothing! That makes you as bad as Rossum whether you worked in the lab or not! How do you live with yourself, huh? Knowing you could've saved the poor innocent little creatures and you chose not to? What did they ever do to you, Ms. DeWitt, to warrant your sentence of torture and death?!"

Adelle was shocked, stunned into absolute silence. No one had ever dared speak to her in such a manner, and as foreign as the words were to her ears, somehow they rang true. She cursed the tears that began to slip down her cheeks, and reached up to wipe them away, but her hand was slammed into the headboard of the bed instead, hard enough to break her fingers, though she didn't think any had broken. "Stop!" she pled with the angry young woman. She wanted to apologize, but her pride wouldn't let her.

Echo-- NO, she was Caroline now. Caroline was so furious that she didn't know what to do. She remembered so many things, but she still didn't have the whole puzzle sorted out, and she wanted that. She had most of the pieces, though, which was better than the zero she'd started off with. And the pieces she did have told her that she wanted this woman in front of her to be helpless, just like the people she'd been controlling. "You don't control me anymore," she said quietly, letting go of Adelle's hair. "Now it's my turn. Until security manages to break in here, you're mine. And your first taste of helplessness will come with a real pain in the ass."

--

Topher was watching the scene play out on screen. He had somehow failed to alert security to the situation. Ahem.

--

Caroline continued as her hands went to Adelle's belt, undoing the buckle and sliding it from its loops. "Turn on your stomach," she ordered.

Adelle just blinked and stared. She couldn't be serious, could she? This was so highly improbable that it bordered on impossible. And yet, it was happening. And she had no way out. The upside was that Echo didn't seem to want to kill her. The downside was that her pride was about to be obliterated completely. She thought about refusing, and trying to fight back, but she knew she'd lose, and instead of viewing the situation as an active gone crazy, she decided to view it as a chance for absolution. She wasn't a highly religious woman, but she knew she had done wrong by many people, and some of the things she'd done were irreversible and irreparable. Some she felt very badly for. She hated admitting it even to herself, but there were things she'd done that still haunted her to this day and kept her awake into the night on occasion. So she grudgingly rolled over onto her stomach and hid her face in her hands, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Caroline was surprised at the compliance. She thought she knew something about this cold-hearted bitch, and submission just did not compute. She wasn't going to complain, however, and she started the satisfying task of whipping Adelle's ass. The leather was high quality, of course - the Queen of All That Moves and Breathes wouldn't wear imitation leather - and it made a loud popping sound as it landed on the seat of her slacks.

Adelle jumped, not really having expected to be hit that hard, and not ready for the sound that echoed around the room when the belt impacted her pants. The belt landed again, and she gasped, moving her hands from her face so she could grip the bedsheets in her fists. It actually hurt a great deal.

"Selfish, greedy bitch," Caroline snarled as she wielded the belt with righteous fury, making Ms. DeWitt squirm beneath the assault and start breathing harder. "You sit in your palace and collect handfuls of money for stealing people's lives... overlooking torture and experimentation on helpless beings just because it means you can afford another designer suit or fancy car..."

"Stop," Adelle ordered, though she knew she wasn't in control of the situation. Echo's words were getting to her more than the physical pain, though it was considerable by this point, and she needed her to stop. "I didn't torture anyone," she exhaled sharply.

"Oh no? Then why couldn't I even remember my fucking name?!" Caroline shouted, uncurling the belt across Ms. DeWitt's thighs and getting a grim sense of satisfaction at the whimper she received in return. "Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt? What's the matter, you don't like not being able to make your own choices about what happens to you?"

Again Echo landed a strike to her thighs, and again, and she let out another whimper, clutching the sheets tighter and burying her face in them to muffle the sounds coming from her traitorous mouth. The worst part was that she knew deep down that she deserved to be punished... and Echo was damn good at making her feel repentant. If she wasn't careful she was going to start apologizing.

Caroline's anger wasn't fading, and that was starting to scare her. What did she want from Ms. DeWitt that she wasn't getting? An apology? The whole truth? Her life back? She wasn't even sure anymore. And where was security? They should've come in and stopped her by now. Wiped her memory again so she could forget about this, forget about the responsibility of knowing what she didn't know, relieve her of the duty to make an informed choice. What would she do if she got her life back now? Nothing would be the same... everything was tainted now.

The more blows that fell across her backside and thighs, the closer Adelle was to losing her resolve. She was holding onto herself by a very thin thread, and Echo was stretching it to its limits.

After a dozen or so more stripes of the belt, Caroline realized that Ms. DeWitt was crying. And saying something.

"Please, Caroline, I'm so genuinely sorry," the older woman said through her tears.

Caroline stopped. Ms. DeWitt had called her 'Caroline'. She wasn't sure why that meant so much to her, but for some reason it did. Her own tears streamed down her face and she set the belt on the floor, sinking to sit on the bed with her head in her hands. "Sorry because you took so many lives or sorry because I spanked you?" she asked bitterly.

"I really don't know right now, I'm just sorry," Adelle said, feeling completely out of control. She hated _feeling _so much at once, it became hard to manage and even harder to suppress. She couldn't feel things like this if she intended to keep her job. And at this point, losing her job meant a memory wipe for herself, or possibly worse. She was stuck between a rock of survival and a moral hard place. "What do you want from me now?"

"I really don't know right now, I'm just angry," Caroline echoed Ms. DeWitt's words almost exactly.

They both stayed silent for a long time, both having realized by this point that they weren't going to be interrupted. Finally Adelle spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "You're wrong, you know. About the animals."

Caroline snapped her head to the side. "What?"

"The first I knew about it was the night you broke into Rossum."

"What? Why didn't you tell me that before?"

Adelle shrugged a little, the best she could while laying on her stomach. "I suppose I figured I deserved what I was getting either way." When Caroline said nothing, she searched for something else to say. The silence was uncomfortable. "My ass really hurts."

Caroline glanced at Ms. DeWitt's backside and ran her hands over her face with a frustrated sigh. "You're bleeding a little. The belt must have broken the skin."

"I'm not surprised. You certainly weren't pulling any punches, now, were you?"

"I'll go get some fucking antiseptic and gauze. If you're not here when I get back, I'll assume you went to security, and I'll wait here for them to find me."

"I'll be here," Adelle said, not a hundred percent sure _why _she wasn't going to run and tattle, but a hundred percent sure that she wasn't.

Caroline pushed the desk out of the way and unlocked the door, throwing one last glance over her shoulder before she left the room, heading for one of the bathrooms. Victor and Sierra steered clear when they saw her coming, not knowing whether their friend would attack them again. She mumbled an apology and slipped into the bathroom, gathering some gauze, tape, cotton balls and hydrogen peroxide, and returning to the room in which she'd left Ms. DeWitt. To her surprise, the older woman was in exactly the same position, and there were no agents in the room. "I don't know why the hell you didn't get security," she said as she stepped in and closed the door, locking it again.

"I told you I wouldn't," Adelle said mildly.

"As if you haven't lied to me before," Caroline frowned, sitting on the bed beside Ms. DeWitt. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Do you expect me to do this with your pants on?"

"No, I expect you to take them down. They're undone for you already."

Caroline didn't respond to that, she just set the supplies down and took hold of Ms. DeWitt's slacks and underwear, carefully pulling them down until the small break in her skin was revealed. She noted the hiss that escaped from beneath her as the fabric moved against sensitive skin, but there was nothing she could do to make it more comfortable. And besides, they both agreed that Ms. DeWitt had deserved what she got.

"How bad is it?" Adelle asked, turning her head in a half-assed attempt to see the damage. Her attention was pulled to Ech-- Caroline's face though, and she was struck by how intense she looked when she was concentrating.

"The cut? Or your ass in general?" Caroline asked, pouring some peroxide onto a cotton ball.

"Both, I suppose," Adelle replied, laying her head back down.

"The cut is barely there. Your ass in general might bruise. Right now it's striped different shades of red."

"Well isn't that just lovely, thank you," Adelle said in that sarcastic way of hers that seemed a little less sarcastic because she was british.

Caroline ignored her and swiped the cotton ball across the thin cut on her left cheek, then once more to make sure the peroxide permeated the entire welt.

"Bloody Christ, that stings!" Adelle shouted, nearly bolting upright, only stopped by Caroline's hand on her back. She gritted her teeth and lowered herself back to the bed, cursing a blue streak.

"Hydrogen peroxide isn't supposed to sting," Caroline informed her, though it wasn't of any help whatsoever. She ripped a piece of tape from the roll, then tore it in half, taping a gauze square across the cut securely.

Both women had the exact same thought after that: _what do we do now?_

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Caroline was the first to speak. Neither woman had moved nor made a sound for at least five minutes. "So what the hell do we do now?"

And for the first time she could remember, Adelle didn't have a good answer. "I don't know."

"Well are you going to lay there with your ass on display all night?"

"You've already seen it, haven't you?" Adelle snapped back. "I don't particularly feel the need to torment myself with clothing."

"It's not that you don't have a nice ass, but I'm really fucking irritated right now and looking at it makes me want to smack it some more."

"Don't you dare," Adelle said, scrambling quickly off the bed and pulling her pants back up as carefully as she could in her haste. "No one has ever raised a hand to me before. It's taking a bit of getting used to."

"You're british!" Caroline said, making a face. "You weren't caned growing up?"

"Lord no," Adelle shook her head. "My parents would have killed my nanny if she ever tried it."

"And in school?"

"I was a perfect angel."

Caroline snorted, not believing that for a second, but she realized it really didn't matter. "Really though, what the hell do we do now?"

"I really have no idea," Adelle said, obviously displeased that she didn't have an answer. "What do you want? Do you want to stay here? I would've thought no, until you asked me that question. Now I'm wondering if you might be grateful for the services we provide."

"Confused and broken does not mean grateful," Caroline said sharply. "Don't you ever suggest that I might be grateful."

"Or what?" Adelle replied with a saucy smirk. "You'll throw me over the bed and spank me?"

"You don't think I'd kill you?" Caroline snapped, standing and spinning to face Ms. DeWitt, the queen-sized bed separating them now.

"What would it matter?" Adelle scoffed, tired of being threatened. "Alpha killed a dozen of us and we're still going strong. You take me out and the next in line steps up to assume my position, and things continue as they were. My life means nothing to this organization, Caroline."

"Then why are you here? Why do you support people that don't give a shit if you live or die? What's your fucking purpose in life, besides deceiving innocent people and making money for some bastards that'd hide your body and replace you in a heartbeat?"

"Nothing," Adelle said flatly, her eyes following Caroline as the girl began to pace back and forth. "Does that make you happy?"

"Maybe it does!" Caroline yelled, though they both knew it didn't. Happiness was not an option for either of them, not today.

"Then that's fantastic, isn't it?" Adelle yelled back. "We're perfect for each other! I _have _no purpose and you don't know what purpose you want! I don't have a choice now and you have all the power. Is that what you want to hear? Is that what Caroline's always wanted?"

"I don't want power, I want justice," Caroline said, her voice losing its angry edge.

"And you think smacking me around is a good way to get that," Adelle said, her voice dropping levels as well.

"I think it's a good start," Caroline replied with a shrug.

"Really. What have you accomplished by treating me like a school pupil?"

"I've learned you're not as heartless as you pretend to be. I've learned you feel bad for what you do. You could help me take down the organization if I decide I w--"

"Absolutely not. Suicide."

"You don't strike me as the chickenshit type."

"And you have no idea how deep the roots of this organization go. Get the idea out of your head, immediately."

"They're probably listening, aren't they?"

"Most likely, yes."

"Then they're going to wipe your memory. Or kill you."

"Most likely, yes," Adelle repeated.

Caroline walked around the bed and leaned in close, whispering in case the room was bugged. Which apparently it was, or at least it 'most likely' was. "Get us both out of here, then."

Adelle whispered back tersely, "I don't think you realize how difficult that would be."

"And I think you _do _realize that we're both fucked if we stay here."

"Why do you care what happens to me?"

"I don't know. Just get us the fuck out of here, Ms. DeWitt."

--

Topher was freaking out. He was the only one eavesdropping on the conversation, and honestly he cared too much about Ms. DeWitt and Echo to go to security. He hurried out of his office and down to the room they were locked in, and knocked on the door. "It's Topher, just let me in!"

"Why would we want to do that?"

That was Ms. DeWitt's voice. "Because I'm the only one that heard your conversation, and I need to tell you something!" Topher hissed.

Another few seconds and the lock clicked, then the door swung inward. He shuffled inside and closed it behind him, frowning at both women. "Are you crazy? Taking down the organization?"

"Thank you Topher, we decided against that option," Ms. DeWitt said smoothly.

"Then what are you going to do? Echo's right, they will wipe your memory, or kill you, or send you to the attic."

"We're going to... leave," Adelle said, not liking the taste of the words on her tongue.

"Leave. Leave? You're just gonna walk out the door, huh?"

"What do you suggest, gopher boy?" Caroline piped up, irritated at the interruption.

"Well I was going t-- gopher boy? Really? Is that necessary?"

"Not the time, Topher," Adelle said calmly. "You're not turning us in, I take it?"

"No! I'm a good guy!" Topher insisted. His face fell then, and he looked back and forth between the women. "I'm gonna miss you both around here... are you sure you have to leave? No one will know about this except the three of us."

"Unless Mr. Dominic views the security tapes," Adelle said, shaking her head.

Caroline spoke up angrily. "You don't even know me," she shot at Topher. "You'll miss my empty shell of a body, right?"

Adelle turned on Caroline, now. "Not the time," she reminded her. "If we are indeed leaving, we need to leave."

"We'll pretend you're handling Echo for an engagement," Topher suddenly suggested.

Adelle raised an eyebrow in obvious skepticism. "I highly doubt that is believable."

"If they see you taking her out, you'll need a cover," Topher said, shrugging in that 'you know I'm right' way of his. "We, we'll go to the chair, pretend to give her an imprint, and--"

"You cannot pretend to give her an imprint," Ms. DeWitt said sharply. "You cannot make that look believable."

"Believable, schmievable," Topher waved her off. "Fine. I'll talk you through the fake engagement on our way to the door. And Echo, you have to pretend to be who I'm about to describe to you."

Caroline bristled. "Stop calling me that. My name is Caroline," she snapped.

"For the next ten minutes your name is... Maggie Sachs. And you're a..." he looked at her clothes before deciding, "Yoga instructor." Then he looked back at Ms. DeWitt. "And you're handling her because the class is all female, and we need someone on the inside."

"Danger in a Yoga class?" Adelle asked, feeling a headache coming on.

"Yes!" Topher said, getting a brainwave. "The previous instructor is being threatened via notes around the studio, so we're sending in Maggie, a Yoga instructor-slash-undercover cop to draw the focus onto her!"

"This is ridiculous, Topher," Adelle said as politely as she could manage. How had she gotten herself into this horrifying situation? Her entire life about to be thrown away to go on the run from people with eyes and ears everywhere.

"You know what? I'm trying to help. If you ladies want to just take your chances, fine. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Caroline spoke up again, nodding her head, first hesitantly and then more confidently as she thought about it. "It makes sense." She turned to Ms. DeWitt. "Let's go with it. I'm Maggie Sachs, and you're 'handling' me, whatever that means."

Adelle sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and then finally shrugging in agreement. "Fine."

--

They were almost to the elevators when Mr. Dominic rounded the corner, and almost collided head-on with Caroline.

She quickly adopted her role as Maggie Sachs and admonished him. "Please excuse us, we're going to be late for class, and we've got a lot riding on this assignment. The Captain doesn't like it when we're late."

"Captain? What Captain?" Mr. Dominic asked, doing a double take between Echo and Ms. DeWitt.

Adelle stepped in, giving Mr. Dominic a 'look'. "Detective Sachs here is going undercover for a client of ours, Mr. Dominic," she explained. She knew that he would understand not to question the assignment further and risk ruining the imprint.

"I am not aware of this assignment," Mr. Dominic pressed more vaguely.

"You wouldn't be," Adelle said, shaking her head. "It came in as a rush order, very last minute, and you were out in the field, obviously," she added, as he had just gotten back from overseeing an engagement himself. That was actually quite convenient.

"Where's Langton? Why you?"

"Mr. Dominic, I shall remind you that I need not explain myself to you. Kindly step out of the way so that we can avoid displeasing a very wealthy client." Her heart was racing, but she kept her outer cool. If she was anything but confident, it would alert Mr. Dominic to a problem.

He finally just nodded and stepped out of the way, clearly not happy about being uninformed, but not suspecting anything unsavory in the works.

As they moved past Mr. Dominic, Adelle began talking to Caroline as if they were discussing the engagement. "Now Detective, your Captain tells me you've been after this perpetrator for quite some time. Could you enlighten me on the specifics of the previous cases?"

"Of course, Ms. DeWitt. The first was..." Caroline trailed off as they entered the elevator, but Adelle encouraged her to keep going. There were cameras everywhere.

"The first was what?" she said pointedly, and Caroline did get the point.

Obviously they weren't in the clear yet. She continued to make up details about previous cases, even as they both entered the black van waiting for them when they exited the elevator, into what appeared to be a tunnel.

Adelle took a headset from the driver, fixing it on properly and testing it worked, before giving the address of a local Yoga studio Topher had found online.

--

The driver parked in an alley about half a block down from the studio, and Adelle chatted briefly with him while Caroline started toward the building. "You'll be here, if we need backup, correct?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Wonderful." She checked again that the headset was working, and shut the door of the van, turning to follow Caroline.

Once they were inside the studio, Adelle took off the headset and placed it carefully into a trash can, making sure it didn't sound like it had been dropped. Now free of Dollhouse surveillance, she turned to Caroline and took a deep breath. "Now, we run."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Figuratively or literally?" Caroline asked, following Ms. DeWitt through the dance studio at a rapid pace.

"Both," Adelle replied, wracking her brain for the location of the nearest bank. "Our first stop is the bank. I need to close out my account before they realize something's going on."

"How much you got in there?"

"We won't be able to carry it all."

"Shit." A smile broke out across Caroline's face for the first time that night. "Right on. How many garbage bags will we need?"

"The big black ones?"

"Yeah, those."

"Four, maybe five," Adelle guessed, continuing to walk briskly and not finding as much humor in the situation as Caroline did.

"Are you fucking serious?" Caroline gaped at her as they came to a halt at an exit.

"I don't feel the need to joke at the moment," was Adelle's sharp reply, and she pushed the door open slightly, her eyes scanning in all directions before she opened it fully and stepped outside. She was not going to relax until she had her money in her hands and they were safely inside a nondescript warehouse or hotel.

"Jesus, stop being so tense. We're out."

"We're not out until I say we're out, and you'd do well to remember that unless you want to end up back where we started or worse," Adelle said, finally remembering a bank a few blocks down. "I have a bit of cash on me, we'll take a cab and you can run into the supermarket for trash bags while I begin the withrdawal process. Clear?"

Caroline really wanted to make fun of her, but she held it in and just nodded, jogging to keep up. "Clear," she said with much self restraint.

--

Roughly three hours later, the ladies were dragging two trash bags each from a newly purchased Lamborghini Reventon, paid for in cash of course, with no paper trail or names exchanged. Now they were in the middle of an urban area, two hours from the Dollhouse, car parked in an abandoned artist's loft (they'd made a homeless man very happy when they offered him a thousand dollars in exchange for information, and had found out that the neighboring lofts were in use, but nobody used this one). They weren't about to leave the car outside, so they parked it in the lower level and planned to use the loft level for habitation.

"You realize there's no kitchen," Caroline said as she dragged her two trash bags up the stairs and tossed them in one corner.

Adelle left her bags by the car as she went to close the rolling metal door. Was it even called a door? She reached up to grab the chain, pulling the massive thing until it hit the concrete floor, then wound the chain through the lock that was built into the ground and secured it so no one could get in. Then she sighed, hefting her two trash bags up the stairs after Caroline and setting them beside the others in the corner. "Yes, I realize there's no kitchen, thank you," she finally responded to Caroline's question-slash-comment.

Caroline was in the bathroom, brushing her teeth. She spit into the sink and called back, "it's a good thing I got toothbrushes and toilet paper, huh?" she said, poking her head out to grin at Ms. DeWitt. "And snacks, if you're hungry."

"I'm not hungry, but I'll take a toothbrush," Adelle said, walking to the bathroom and holding out her hand. "You didn't get bedsheets by any chance, did you? As grateful as I am that there's a mattress here, I don't foresee us sleeping on previously used bedsheets."

Caroline pulled the second toothbrush from the grocery bag and handed it over, shaking her head. "Didn't think of it," she said, dropping her head to the sink to rinse her mouth out, and then wiping her face with her shirt. "Didn't think of towels, either." She moved out of the bathroom so Ms. DeWitt could brush her teeth.

Adelle was trying to be cordial, but it was wearing on her nerves that they didn't have everything they needed right at that moment. She unwrapped the toothbrush and took it from the box, tossing the container into the trash, and had just started to brush when she heard an excited shout from downstairs.

"Whoo-ooo! We've got clean sheets!" Caroline yelled, pulling a set from the downstairs closet and running back up the stairs.

"Thank God," Adelle muttered around her toothbrush, rolling her eyes in relief. And then further relief when Caroline proceeded to strip the bed and re-make it. She was too tired to think about household chores at the moment, and her companion didn't seem to mind doing it. "Thank you," she said when she finished washing up. She wasn't entirely without the ability to be polite, when warranted.

"You're welcome," Caroline said as she threw herself on the mattress with a long groan of appreciation. "It feels good to lay down."

Adelle sat carefully, wincing as her backside made contact with the mattress. It was soft, and once she'd been sitting for a moment it was fine, but each time she sat, the initial contact was a definite reminder of Caroline's whipping.

Caroline grinned. "Your ass hurt?"

"As a matter of fact it does," Adelle replied, leaning down to take her shoes off. "I wonder why that could possibly be..." She laid down and undid her slacks, slipping them over her hips and down her legs to let them fall on the floor beside the bed.

"I have no idea," Caroline said cheekily, doing a little dance to show her pride.

"I don't know why you continue to bring it up, it does not embarrass me nor make me angry, so what is your motivation?"

"I don't know. Some kind of emotion would be nice," Caroline groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Do you not recall making me cry?" Adelle asked, raising an eyebrow. "That wasn't enough emotion for you for one day? And let's not forget the fact that I'm fucking terrified. A little less so now that we have my money and are inside a well fortified building, but terrified just the same." She pulled the top sheet over herself and closed her eyes, more than ready for sleep.

Caroline was surprised that Ms. DeWitt would actually refer to the fact that she'd cried. And even more surprised that she admitted to being terrified. "Look. We're out now, right? We're safe?"

"Oh no my dear girl, we are never safe," Adelle said quickly, seriously, opening her eyes and turning her head to look at Caroline. "Safer than we were inside the Dollhouse, but not safe."

"The Dollhouse? You called it the Dollhouse? And what was I, a Doll?" Caroline asked, sitting up as she felt her anger rise again at this woman that, until today, had controlled everything about her existence.

"We refer to--" Adelle began but was cut off by a stinging slap across the face. This time, she sat up and hit back. "Stop it!" she shouted. "We're in this together whether we like it or not, and I won't have you hitting me every time I say something you don't like. We refer to our employees as actives, not dolls."

Caroline took a moment to recover from the slap, and when she did, she jumped on Adelle, grabbing a handful of her hair as she drew her fist back. She never made contact with the self-righteous woman's face, though, because Adelle managed to duck, despite the grip on her hair, and Caroline's fist hit the wall instead, and a sickening crunch followed by intense pain alerted her to the fact that she'd just broken at least one of her fingers. "Fuck!"

"Have you gone mad?" Adelle asked, eyes wide, as she struggled out of Caroline's hold and moved away from her, breathing hard. "You know you can't go to a hospital! What do you expect to do about broken fingers?"

"Right, because I meant to break them?" Caroline shot back, wrapping her good hand around her wounded one to keep her fingers still. "If you hadn't moved out of the way--"

"You'd have broken them on my face," Adelle said sharply. "And broken my cheekbone along with it. We cannot afford to be doing things like this, Caroline. Any time we leave this loft, for any reason, we become targets. You need to learn to control yourself, for your sake just as much as mine. We're allies, and we have to consider everyone else enemies, because the Dollhouse has eyes and ears in places even I don't know about. I'm all you have." She paused, and then added, "and you're all I have." She never thought she'd be saying that to an active.

"You don't know that. I could have someone looking for me right now, someone I left behind when--"

"You don't."

Adelle's tone was so final that it made Caroline stop and stare. Ms. DeWitt did know. She knew something she wasn't telling. "You know something about my past. Tell me."

Adelle cringed. She shouldn't have said anything. "It was too traumatic for you to deal with the first time around. I'm not going to--"

"YOU FUCKING TELL ME!" Caroline screamed, a panic starting to rise in her chest. Something was lingering just outside her memory, she could feel it.

Adelle jumped in surprise, and admittedly a little bit of fear. Whether Caroline had a broken hand or not, she had a feeling her phsyical well-being would be in jeopardy if she didn't talk. "All right, sit down," she said calmly, and when Caroline sat, she continued. "You broke into Rossum, as you know." She took a breath, throwing her eyes skyward and exhaling slowly, then resting her forearms on her knees. "Security pursued you and shot your male companion. He was killed." She wished there was a better way to say that, but there wasn't.

Another flash of memories. "Oh my G--" It made her head hurt. She remembered him. She remembered kneeling over him, somewhere outside, there was grass, and he was bleeding too much. Then she remembered that it was her fault, and she choked out a sob, leaning forward to put her head between her knees. "It was my fault."

"I highly doubt that."

"It was. I'm the one that convinced him to go. He didn't want to do it. It's my fault."

"If he truly didn't want to go, he wouldn't have," Adelle said, her voice gentler than she'd used in a very long time, and she carefully sat next to Caroline on the bed.

"He went because I asked him to, because he loved me and he knew how much it meant to me," Caroline insisted, tears spilling down her cheeks. When she felt the tentative touch of Ms. DeWitt's hand on her back, the dam broke and she leaned into the older woman, the tears instantly escalating to sobs.

Adelle wasn't used to this role, but it wasn't completely foreign, and she did have an instinct or two to her name. "Shh," she cooed, one arm around Caroline's front to hold her and the other gently stroking her hair. "It'll be all right."

Caroline didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. She just cried until she couldn't anymore, and then took a deep breath, getting her emotions under control before she sat up to face Ms. DeWitt. "My fingers are broken. I don't suppose you sent me to medical school recently?"

Adelle grinned, recognizing the subject change for what it was, and shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I have basic medical knowledge, but no supplies. That was really quite stupid, Caroline," she pointed out.

"And stating the obvious is a waste of time," Caroline snapped, overcompensating for her moment of vulnerability by being more acidic than necessary.

"I'll have to make do with sticks and tape," Adelle said after getting up and looking over the balcony at the array of art supplies scattered around the ground floor. As she began to descend the stairs, she heard Caroline call after her.

"You're not wearing any pants."

"How incredibly astute," she called back, reaching the ground floor and making a right turn to head for a shelving unit on the back wall. Paint, paper, oil pastels, chalk, yes, tape. She chose painter's tape, because it was strong but wouldn't irritate Caroline's skin like duct tape would. "How many fingers are broken?" she asked, looking up at the loft, where Caroline was staring down at her.

Caroline investigated and answered, "two."

"Next to each other or not?"

"Next to each other. Index and middle on my right hand."

"Perfect," Adelle said to herself, grabbing a paint stirrer and snapping about a third of it off. It would do well for binding two fingers.

Caroline watched Ms. DeWitt come back up the stairs, and smirked at her a little, leaning on the balcony. "Those are some pretty nice underwear for work," she observed.

"Don't start," Adelle said, giving her a look. "I don't own work-appropriate underwear."

"Why not?" Caroline said, taking a seat on the mattress and holding out her arm so Ms. DeWitt could fix her up.

Adelle sat beside her and started to work, and she was surprisingly skilled once she got down to it. She ignored Caroline's question in favor of concentrating on her task, and only five minutes later she had finished, and satisfied with her results. "Is it comfortable enough?" she asked. She knew it wouldn't be comfortable, but if there was a particularly irritating feature of the splint, she could adjust it.

"It's pretty good," Caroline said, looking it over and flexing her non-broken fingers. "Thanks. Now why don't you own work-appropriate underwear?"

"Because I like to feel desirable, even if no one desires me," Adelle said sharply.

"You have a great ass," Caroline said matter-of-factly. "And speaking of, I should take a look at that."

"No, thank you. It's fine."

"I'm sure it is, but I should change the gauze anyway. Even a tiny cut can have a problem if it's not kept clean."

"Are you saying I'm not clean?" Adelle asked, but she gave up without a fight and laid on her stomach, folding her arms beneath her head.

"I'm saying you drove for two hours wearing pants and underwear with dried blood on them," Caroline informed her. "And before that, we were running. Sweat, you know." She managed to get Adelle's panties down with minimal difficulty, and couldn't hold back a little 'oooh' as her ass was revealed. "Bruises," she explained, running one fingertip lightly along the bruised skin.

Adelle gasped and shivered, turning her head to look incredulously at Caroline. "It's bad enough that you whipped me hard enough to leave bruises," she said sourly. "I don't think it's necessary for you to call attention to them."

"Does it embarrass you?" Caroline idly trailed her fingertip across to the other cheek.

"Not exactly," Adelle said, quickly turning her face away. "You'd better just hurry up and change the dressing, please."

"I don't know, I'm kind of enjoying myself," Caroline grinned, twirling her finger in circles across the sensitive flesh, then lightly scratching with her nails.

"Be that as it may, I'm exhausted and would appreciate it if you'd curb your excitement, at least until the morning."

Caroline rolled her eyes but gave in, gently removing the small bandage. "Oh, wait... we don't exactly have any more gauze, do we?"

"Nor peroxide," Adelle realized at the same moment.

"We'll get some tomorrow," Caroline said, replacing the bandage, hoping it would stick through the night. "Don't toss and turn, or it'll come off, and I might kick you off the mattress anyway," she said with a grin, trying to make light of the situation.

Adelle offered a grim smile in return, and when nothing further happened, she turned her head and raised an eyebrow. "My panties, please..."

Caroline snickered and pulled Ms. DeWitt's underwear back into place, then flopped backwards on the bed for the second time that night. "I'm pretty fuckin tired too," she announced. "But I think I'll keep my pants on." She was quiet for several minutes, just staring at the ceiling, and then sighed, turning just her face toward Adelle. "Thank you," she said.

"What on earth for?" Adelle asked, shocked.

"For telling me the truth. And helping me get out of there."

"Yes, well, I'm no saint," Adelle said, looking away.

"I wasn't accusing you of it," Caroline promised, rolling on her side and propping up on her elbow. She considered the sulking woman for a few moments and then came to a conclusion. "You must have been seriously lonely."

Adelle turned to look at her sharply. "What gives you that impression?" she said icily. "Just because I was in a position of power, I must have been lonely?"

Caroline snorted with the slightest bit of derision. "No, your position of power didn't factor in to my observation. It was more the fact that you wear underwear like that to work, so you could feel desirable, even though no one could see them. Jewelry or revealing dresses would make sense if you wanted to attract attention, but not underwear. And the way you talk about yourself... if you had someone to confide in, someone who loved you and cared about you, they'd be able to talk you out of thinking that way."

"What business is it of yours?"

"I'm just making conversation."

"I believe I already told you that I wish to sleep. Conversation isn't necessary."

"So I'm right."

Adelle declined to answer. She just pulled the top sheet over herself and shut her eyes, concentrating on slow, even breathing.

"I thought you were a cold-hearted bitch at first, I mean how could you not be, with what you do-- did-- for a living? But I know you must have had your reasons, even if you won't share them. You care enough to hate yourself for it... and once you're away from that power, you're really not so bad."

"Thank you for the glowing reference," Adelle said stiffly, the backwards compliment actually hurting more than it helped. Caroline was right. There were parts of herself that she hated. But having it brought to light didn't do a damn bit of good. But then maybe that was Caroline's intention, anyway. To hurt her under the pretense of trying to help. She refused to let her guard down, even though the only person in the world she could trust right now besides herself was Caroline. Trusting someone with her safety was much different than trusting them with her soul.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Caroline woke to an empty bed and the sound of the shower running. She stretched, yawned, and rolled over, sprawling out on her stomach across the mattress and just relaxing for several minutes while she woke up. When she was a little more alert, she wondered why Ms. DeWitt would be in the shower when they had no towels. What was she going to do, air dry? Well, at least that would be amusing. What else could they do to entertain themselves, cooped up with no outside influence to speak of? Did they even have cable? Or internet access? They could afford a computer or seven... at least Ms. DeWitt could.

Her inner thoughts were cut off when the shower stopped, and she turned her head toward the bathroom. A few minutes later Ms. DeWitt emerged wrapped in a towel. "What the hell?" she asked. "Where did you find that?"

Adelle smirked and propped one leg up on a brand new nightstand, picking up a bottle of lotion and squeezing some onto her hands, starting to rub it in. "I take it you haven't looked around the room yet," she said smoothly. "You were snoring, so I went out to purchase supplies."

Caroline sat up and looked around the room, noticing a few new pieces of furniture and a bunch of full shopping bags. "I don't snore," she commented off-handedly as her eyes focused on one particular bag. "You got clothes?"

"Naturally." Adelle finished putting lotion on one leg, then switched. "I don't know if I gauged your size correctly, so you'd better try them on."

Slightly wide eyes turned on her. "You got _me _clothes?"

"Well yes. What should I have done, left you without some? It would hardly be practical to leave the loft twice if not absolutely necessary. I wanted to get everything done in one trip."

"Oh." Caroline's wide eyes slowly narrowed. "I was gonna say thanks, but when you put it like that, nevermind."

Adelle snickered to herself, just a little, and capped the lotion, sitting down on her side of the bed. "I have to admit, it also thrilled me to be Mistress of your wardrobe," she added, giving Caroline a half smirk.

Caroline knew that Ms. DeWitt was trying to be funny, but that was a sore spot for her - the lack of control she'd had before last night. "Oh, because that's a new privilege for you?" she asked, laying back down and turning away.

Adelle bit her lip and sighed, giving herself a good kick in the ass for not thinking ahead before saying something like that. "That was insensitive, I apologize," she said, and when there was no reaction, she reached a hand over, trailing her fingers lightly down Caroline's left arm. "I'm sorry," she said again.

Caroline wanted to be pissed off, but it was hard when someone like Adelle DeWitt was apologizing to her. She got the feeling that apologies didn't come easily from this woman, and it sounded pretty sincere. She even went so far as to say it twice. "Yeah," she said, shrugging off the touch. "Just don't say shit like that, all right?"

Adelle pulled her hand back quickly and busied herself with the task of combing her hair. "Of course," she agreed, moving into the bathroom and running her new hairbrush through her wet, messy locks.

It was weird, seeing this side of Ms. DeWitt. Not bad weird, just weird. Okay, it's not like she knew that much about the woman apart from the few memories she had of her, and the intellectual knowledge she'd gained through talking to her, but it still seemed like this wasn't the norm. But then again, who really had a norm? Everyone was different in different situations, weren't they?

With a sigh to herself, Caroline got up and followed Ms. DeWitt into the bathroom, removing the hairbrush from her hand and taking over the task. Neither of them said anything, but they could see each other in the mirror, and their expressions matched. Curious and hesitant. Wanting something and not knowing what it was or how to get it, but knowing they had to trust each other to find it.

Caroline broke the silence when she was finished getting the knots out of Ms. DeWitt's hair. "What's on the agenda for today? Can we get internet here?"

Adelle looked at her in the mirror, her face stern. "You've got to start thinking like a fugitive. Internet access is the easiest way for them to track us down."

"How would they know it was us? It's just a random signal if we don't sign up under our real names," Caroline argued.

"I don't think you understand. They have the technology to put a microscopic video camera inside every computer on the planet if they so choose. No computers, and no cell phones."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do all day?" Caroline asked frustratedly, slamming the hairbrush down on the sink.

"How about we start with a game of poker?" Adelle suggested.

"You didn't grab any booze while you were out, did you?" Caroline mumbled, mostly to herself, as she pouted her way out of the bathroom.

"It's possible you may find some in that bag over there," Adelle said with a smirk, nodding toward one of the grocery bags.

Caroline's pout turned into a grin, and she peered into the bag, her grin growing as she saw the contents. "Cuervo, I like it. And this must be for you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she pulled out a bottle of Absolut Citron.

"Why do you assume?" Adelle asked, reaching out to grab the bottle anyway, twisting off the cap. "Too feminine for you?"

"Hey I'm feminine," Caroline insisted, pulling out the Cuervo and uncapping it with her teeth, spitting the top at Adelle. "Sometimes."

Adelle actually laughed as she dodged the flying cap, hearing it hit the wall behind her. "Should we bother with glasses?"

"I don't know, wouldn't want you to think I'm too un-feminine," Caroline drawled, sitting cross-legged on the carpet, tossing back a throatful of tequila straight from the bottle.

"No of course not," Adelle agreed, swigging her own bottle in an uncharacteristic display of chaos. "Get the cards, would you? They're in that bag." She nodded toward the liquor bag that was now empty except for a deck of standard playing cards.

Caroline grabbed the cards and unwrapped them, then opened the pack and shook them out into her hand, discarding the packaging. "Okay... name your game, little lady," she said, adopting a southern accent as she shuffled the cards.

"Let's keep it simple, five card draw," Adelle answered, drinking again, almost having forgotten how smooth Citron could be going down. She set the bottle on the floor next to her and picked up her cards once Caroline had dealt them. "Ooh, you've cheated," she commented, scrunching her nose in distaste.

"You need to work on your poker face," Caroline laughed, shaking her head and draining half her bottle in one go, then wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "And I don't cheat."

"What are the stakes, anyhow?" Adelle asked, waving off the comments. "No point playing strip poker, you've already seen my ass."

"Aw, but it's such a nice ass," Caroline said, tilting her head and pouting slightly. "I wouldn't mind seeing it again."

"Just keep talking," Adelle snarked, laying down three cards. "I'll take three."

Caroline passed her three new cards, then took two for herself. "Playing for money is pointless, we're sharing it anyway."

"Indeed," Adelle said, deep in thought as she laid down a pair of jacks. "I suppose we could play rummy instead, and the first to five hundred gets the entire bed to herself tonight..."

"Oh you want to sleep on the floor, huh?" Caroline challenged as Adelle picked up her bottle again and took several long swallows. "Pair of kings," she announced, laying her cards down. "So we're switching to rummy, then? What do I get for winning the poker game?"

A slight cloud was settling over Adelle's senses, which could have been responsible for the minute dropping of her guard at that moment. "What do you _want _for winning the poker game?"

"I don't know," Caroline said, leaning forward, propping herself up with hands on top of Adelle's pair of jacks, her arms straight, a mischievous smile gracing her lips as a twinkle shone in her eyes. "How about a nice little kiss?"

Even in her mildly hazy state, Adelle managed to get an eyebrow lifted at that. A mischievous smile of her own formed and she closed the distance between them, placing a soft kiss on Caroline's cheek. "Congratulations, you beat me by two marks," she murmured, referring to the count between jacks and kings.

As Adelle started to pull back, Caroline followed. "Try again, Addy," she half-complained, half-giggled. "Aim right this time."

Had she been in full possession of her senses, being called Addy would have made her cringe and think of Margaret. Now, all she focused on was the fact that Caroline's lips were an inch from hers, and the young woman wanted a kiss. A proper kiss, apparently, because the cheek didn't prove to be an acceptable targe-- she was rambling, even in her head, stalling, perhaps. She should sit back and take another drink, diffuse the sudden tension she felt. Caroline didn't really want a kiss, did she? It was most likely some bizarre trick of her imagination. Oh, fuck, she was overanalyzing things as usual! She shut off her critical thinking nodule and pressed her lips to Caroline's, holding for a split second and then pulling back with a sultry grin. "Satisfied?"

"Perfectly!" Caroline exclaimed, moving back into her own space and rounding up the cards for another shuffle. She kind of couldn't believe she'd gotten the stick out of Adelle's ass far enough to knock her inhibitions out the window, but her lips weren't complaining. They tingled in just the right way, tasted like a mix of vodka and tequila that would have made her gag except that one flavor had come from the most tempting source. Now she kinda wanted more. Ooh, her thinking was getting a little fuzzy. Must be the Cuervo. She definitely felt some filters failing, because the next thing out of her mouth wasn't something she'd ever planned to ask. "Why do you think no one desires you?"

Adelle gave her that wide-eyed, 'do-you-realize-you're-talking-to-Adelle-DeWitt?' look. "Excuse me?" Her heart started to race of its own accord; she did not want to go down this conversational path. Not now, not ever, and certainly not with a beautiful young woman that would probably use the knowledge against her first chance she got.

"Yesterday you said--"

"I know what I said, I simply cannot believe you'd bring it up," Adelle said stiffly.

"It's just that I think you're very desirable," Caroline went on to say. Oops... definitely failing filters. She'd never have said that if she wasn't a little buzzed. Not that it wasn't true, because it was, but she'd just never have said it.

Adelle suddenly flopped onto her back on the carpet. "I'm not," she gushed.

Okay, they'd definitely drank very concentrated alcohol too fast. She laid on the floor next to Adelle, staring at the ceiling. "You are, though. Especially when you're like this."

"Like what?"

Caroline turned her head to look at Adelle. "When you're just a girl."

Adelle didn't think she'd been called a girl in twenty years, at the least. But... it seemed wildly accurate for how she felt right now. And she didn't know what to say. "Just a girl?" she whispered.

"Just a girl," Caroline confirmed.

And they lapsed into a comfortable silence, both staring at the ceiling, both lost in their own fuzzy thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Adelle spoke first. They'd been laying there for a good twenty minutes, and she turned her head to look at Caroline. "We're not going to play rummy, are we?" she asked, slurring slightly.

"No," Caroline mumbled. "I'm tired."

"I could do with a nap," Adelle agreed. They hadn't been up and about for all that long, but being drunk could wear a girl out.

"We both get the bed, since no rummy," Caroline pointed out, slowly rolling over and crawling toward the bed.

Adelle made a non-commital noise and rolled over as well, trying a few times before she got to her hands and knees so she could crawl over to the bed.

"We should get guns," Caroline murmured as she slid under the covers, and as she rested her head on one of the pillows, she felt an arm slip over her stomach and a warm body press against her back.

"Later," Adelle replied, not wanting to tell Caroline that she didn't like guns, and in fact the suggestion of owning one was what caused her to press so close to her companion. She'd rather Caroline assume she was making sexual advances than assume she was frightened of guns. She wasn't frightened of being around them in general, but she was afraid of touching one, holding it, pulling the trigger. She might enjoy it, and that thought was both revolting and terrifying.

"You're pressed up against me in nothing but a towel," Caroline pointed out sleepily, her eyelids fluttering as she tried to keep them open, staring at the wall.

"I forgot to get dressed," Adelle whispered. "Once we started drinking, it slipped my mind."

"Did you get gauze at the store?"

"Yes..."

A warmth spread through Caroline's body and she struggled to stay awake. "I should change your bandage."

"I'm not wearing it... would've come off in the shower," Adelle murmured, her lips very close to Caroline's neck.

Warm breath on her neck was distracting, but she worried about infection even through the haze of tequila. "I'll put a new one on, then we can sleep," she said, forcing herself to sit up.

"It's not bleeding anymore, it hasn't done all morning," Adelle told her, but it wasn't really a protest. She rolled onto her stomach and folded her arms beneath her head, waiting.

Caroline stumbled a little on her way to search the shopping bags, but she didn't fall. She located the gauze, tape, and a bottle of peroxide, but no cotton balls. "Cotton?" she asked.

"Damn," Adelle swore.

"Take that as a no," Caroline said, moving into the bathroom for a tissue instead. She settled down beside Adelle on the bed, putting the supplies on the closest nightstand. A little bit clumsy in her buzzed state, she knocked the peroxide bottle on the floor and had to spend a good thirty seconds fumbling around under the bed with one hand to find it. "Got it," she said quietly in triumph, setting it more carefully on the table this time.

"Got what?" Adelle asked. She hadn't felt anything yet.

"Dropped the peroxide," Caroline explained, laying her palms on the backs of Adelle's thighs, just beneath the edge of her towel. She slid them up slowly, taking the towel with her, until once again Adelle's perfect ass was revealed. And this time, her inhibitions lowered, she stroked her fingers softly over the bruises - not to tease, as she'd done before, but just to feel.

Adelle gasped and unconsciously pressed her ass into the touch, only half aware that this was crossing some unstated line. She couldn't help it. As long as Caroline was offering, she would accept. And when Caroline chose to stop, she wouldn't ask for more.

Caroline's eyes drifted closed as she felt Adelle press into her. She shouldn't be doing this. Not now, not like this, not drunk. Buzzed. Whatever. They both deserved better. Her mouth ached to cover the marks with licks and kisses, and she groaned, opening her eyes and quickly snatching the peroxide bottle, surprised that she didn't knock it over again in her haste. She poured the antiseptic onto the tissue she'd gotten from the bathroom, then carefully dabbed it over the healing cut, and re-capped the bottle before she could spill it. Her hands trembling now with the effort not to slip between Adelle's thighs, she taped a gauze square over the cut and put everything back on the nightstand. "Done," she announced, sliding back under the covers, facing away from Adelle.

Adelle lay there for a good minute, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat, then resolved that it just wasn't going to quiet down. Being under the influence like this with Caroline was a very dangerous thing, and she was both relieved and disappointed that things hadn't gone further than they just did.

When she didn't feel Adelle pressed against her again, Caroline reached one arm back and felt around to find Adelle's hand, then pulled it across her body like it had been before.

Adelle gasped for the second time that morning, rolling onto her side as her arm was pulled over Caroline's body. She settled rather quickly, though, sleepiness and comfort overtaking surprise and nerves, and she rested her hand on Caroline's stomach, relaxing enough to lay her head on the pillow. "If you wake up first, let me sleep," she mumbled.

"Same to you," Caroline mumbled back, squeezing Adelle's hand tighter to her belly and closing her eyes.

--

Caroline woke first, a mild headache making her groan quietly in protest. That always happened when she slept during the day. Not to mention the fact that she'd gone to sleep slightly drunk. That couldn't have helped. She rolled onto her back and stretched with a yawn, then snapped her head to the side when she caught an interesting sight with her peripheral vision. Adelle had managed to end up out of her towel and was sprawled on the other side of the bed, naked. Wow. She didn't realize she was staring until Adelle's eyes opened and caught her.

Having the good grace to blush, Caroline excused herself and quickly locked herself in the bathroom. She did have to pee, actually, but mostly she just needed to compose herself so she didn't seem embarrassed at being caught. Matter of fact, why _was _she embarrassed about being caught? She could look at whoever she wanted, especially someone she was sharing a bed with who happened to not be wearing any clothes. It's not like she had been trying to look under her shirt. There _was _no shirt.

Adelle was pretty much still waking up, not even having realized yet that she was naked. When she did realize, she groaned, clapping her hands over her face and cussing quietly into them. Fuck. She reached down and yanked the sheet up over herself, wondering why of all afternoons, this had to be the one she discarded the sheets while she was sleeping.

Caroline finished going to the bathroom and washed her face, then paused at the door. "You decent?" she called through it.

"No!" Adelle snapped, some of her venom having returned to help her through the situation. Showing her ass was one thing, but showing everything? She certainly hadn't been ready for that. Caroline was probably disgusted with what she saw. The best thing to do was be a bitch, yes? Of course it was. It had never failed her before.

Caroline blinked and raised an eyebrow, opening the door anyway. "Too bad," she said, climbing back into the bed.

"Do you mind?" Adelle hissed, staring at her incredulously. "I haven't dressed yet."

"Don't mind at all," Caroline retorted, ready and willing to give Adelle's attitude right back to her. "What is your problem, exactly? We were getting along fine this morning."

"I was drunk this morning, wasn't I?" Adelle said scathingly.

"Don't try to hide behind that. We were getting along before we started drinking. I'm not stupid, Adelle. I know what you're doing."

Adelle fumed, sitting up abruptly, clutching the sheet around her. "What am I doing, then?" she snapped.

"You're being a bitch to distance yourself because you're afraid I didn't like what I saw."

"Is that so?" Adelle asked bitingly, her eyes narrowed, so much colder than the warmth of that morning.

"Yeah, it is, you chickenshit," Caroline insisted. "But you shouldn't bother. I liked what I saw."

"Oh please. We both know you didn't."

"I'm not the liar out of the two of us," Caroline reminded her. She wanted to get angry, to scream at Adelle, but she realized that what she was seeing right now was an intense vulnerability. "Lay down."

"I beg your pardon?" Adelle asked, her eyes going wide.

"Lay down," Caroline repeated, pushing her onto her back and tearing the sheet away. "Don't move."

"How dare you--" Adelle started, but Caroline cut her off.

"I said don't move," she commanded, placing a hand on Adelle's shoulder to hold her down. She held her there until the older woman stopped trying to squirm out of her grip. She didn't miss the deep blush on Ms. DeWitt's cheeks. "Like you said, we're all each other has. We're going to take care of this ridiculous attitude problem right away."

"Ridiculous?" Adelle said, fire blazing in her eyes almost as hot as on her cheeks. "You presume to t--"

"I'm the one talking right now, and unless you want a fresh spanking to go with those bruises, you'll shut the fuck up and let me finish."

Adelle knew Caroline was stronger than her, and if she wanted to administer another spanking, she'd be able to, regardless of Adelle's feelings on the matter. "Perhaps I do want a fresh spanking," she said indignantly, not quite ready to back down.

"Do you?" Caroline asked, straight and to the point.

Adelle didn't particularly like having her bluff called, but she wasn't particularly surprised, either. She set her jaw, her eyes defiant, but she finally closed them and shook her head the slightest bit. "No," she said quietly.

Caroline realized she'd just won. "Are you going to behave, then?"

Adelle's cheeks burned with shame, but still she nodded. "Yes."

Caroline grinned and finally released her hold on Adelle, watching her carefully for any sign of defiance. Finding none, she reached up with one fingertip and traced her way from Adelle's forehead down the side of her face, stopping beneath her chin. "You're beautiful," she said simply. "Don't say anything."

Adelle had opened her mouth to protest, but closed it at Caroline's instruction. She furrowed her brows instead. What was this supposed to accomplish?

Caroline moved her finger down across Adelle's neck and chest, resting between her breasts. "Your breasts are gorgeous. Just the right size for your body, so smooth and soft, and I love how pink your nipples are."

Again Adelle opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Caroline's eyes kept her quiet.

"Your stomach is absolutely kissable... and even softer than your breasts, but with more muscle tone hiding under your skin."

"This is silly," Adelle finally said, staring anywhere but at Caroline.

"You really want that spanking, don't you?" Caroline asked.

"No, I don't, but I don't see what this is suppos--"

"It's supposed to help your self esteem," Caroline interrupted.

"Well it's not," Adelle snapped. She wasn't sure if that was true, however. She did manage to feel beautiful for a few moments there with Caroline complimenting her like that, but she was quite afraid that her companion would suddenly begin laughing and play it all up to a joke.

"Could you just-- take the stick out of your ass for two seconds?" Caroline puffed exasperatedly. "I know it's had years to wedge itself in there, but Jesus!"

"Take your bloody compliments and shove them up yours!" Adelle hissed.

Caroline's humor faded instantly and her eyes narrowed, her expression registering actual offense. What the hell was Adelle's problem? "All right that's it," she said, shaking her head, grabbing Adelle by the arm and yanking her upright, then quickly pulling the surprised woman across her lap.

Adelle froze, easily maneuvered across Caroline's lap, and realized she'd just crossed the line... and that she really hadn't meant to. She turned to look over her shoulder as Caroline raised her hand, and tried to apologize. "Wait, please... I'm sorry, I didn't mean that... please don't, I'm still quite sore from the last time."

"It's too late, you can't just insult me and take it back. Put your head down." If Caroline was honest with herself, she'd admit that she'd wanted Ms. DeWitt across her lap since the last time. She hadn't done it then, it would have been too intimate, but now... now they knew each other at least somewhat, and they were living together. She wanted to feel every squirm, every intake of breath, every sharp exhale. She wanted to feel Adelle's hips forced tighter against her thighs with every slap.

Adelle narrowed her eyes to mirror Caroline's expression, then turned to rest her forehead on the mattress. Fine. She could take it. Just a spanking. Except for the fact that she was entirely naked. And already bruised. "This isn't fair," she found herself whining like a child, much to her own horror.

Two days ago, Caroline would have snorted with derision at hearing that. At the moment, though, she slid her left hand into Adelle's hair and squeezed. And smacked her ass sharply with the right.

Adelle hadn't been prepared for that, and she sucked in a hissing breath, trying not to react past that. Caroline was strong, all the way to her fingertips.

Caroline closed her eyes for a second, avoiding a low purr that wanted to escape. It felt so good, making Ms. DeWitt breathe like that, and the feel of hips pressing into her thighs was as good as she'd thought it would be. "The attitude needs to be gone." Her hand fell five more times, crisp, stinging smacks echoing through the loft. "I'll remind you again about what you said. I'm all you have. And you're all I have. We can't afford to be petty and antagonistic. I didn't do anything to deserve the kind of attitude you're throwing, either. So just fucking stop it."

Jesus, that hurt. "Look, this is a very difficult situation for me," she tried to explain.

"Right, and I'm having the time of my life!" Caroline reminded her, landing slap after slap, covering Adelle's ass and thighs apart from the small bandage on her left cheek.

Adelle held her breath, determined not to say anything else, since everything she said just seemed to fuel Caroline's anger. She really didn't want to cry again, especially not from a simple spanking, but things were looking that way. Tears already pooled in the corners of her eyes, and she couldn't hold back a whimper every time Caroline's hand landed now. She fisted the sheets, trying to stay quiet and take it like the sophisticated adult she was. Just when she was about to break, the blows stopped coming and she felt a very warm, gentle palm rubbing her inflamed backside. Strangely enough, that moment was the closest she'd felt to anyone in years. As if she were a child, having fallen from a swing, and Caroline had picked her up to comfort her and make her safe again. A strangled sob was pulled from her throat in response. "What are you doing?" she managed to choke.

"Well I'm not a complete bitch. You took that pretty damn good, and I think you deserve a little comfort after that, don't you?"

"No, I don't," Adelle said, her breath hitching.

Caroline leaned down and spoke softly into Adelle's ear. "Too bad." And she kissed the top of the older woman's head, continuing the gentle rubbing. "It's just you and me now, Addy."

"Please don't call me that," Adelle whispered. "It makes me think of Margaret. Please."

Caroline didn't say anything, she just kissed the top of Adelle's head again and then ran her fingers though the silky brown waves of her hair.

They stayed like that for quite awhile, until Adelle began to get uncomfortable with her nakedness. "May I get dressed?" she asked, her voice quiet, opting to ease out of the silence instead of shattering it.

Caroline was surprised at the question, and debated saying no just for the hell of it, A slow smile spread across her face, a warmth in her belly, and she ran her fingers through Adelle's hair one last time before she answered. "Yeah, you can get dressed."


End file.
